Welcome Randy, Lynn and Jennifer Forsyth!
By Rod and Sherry Boyd

We are so excited to welcome the Forsyth family to Panama. The Forsyths arrived to Panama the middle of May after spending several months raising their budget and seven months in Costa Rica in language training. Now they begin their work of helping to strengthen the Christian school program in Panama. Their main focus will be to assist with school construction and assist with the Latin America ChildCare sponsorship program.

Airport Arrival!

The Forsyths are staying with us for a few weeks until they find a home to rent in Panama City. Jennifer is finishing her high school studies via an online program at a Seattle area community college. She will be leaving in August to begin her college career at Northwest University, majoring in Elementary Education.

We spent one day visiting four schools that are in the middle of construction projects. Following is a description of each school and their construction needs and plans.

El Buen Pastor School in Villa Grecia. This school is located about 20 miles from Panama City along the highway that crosses the isthmus on the way to Colon. The school opened in 2007 with 40 students and now has 300 through seventh grade meeting in Sunday school classrooms and other rooms around the Sanctuary! The school has purchased the property across the street. Pastor Joseph shares that they have plans to begin construction this fall with hopes of having them finished by the start of school, March 1, 2014.

El Buen Pastor School Getsemani in Pedregal. This school is located in the Pedregal area in the outskirts of Panama City. The school opened in 2007 with 210 students and now has 400 in its elementary program. Pastor Otilio shares that there is so much demand in the area that if they had sufficient classrooms they could have 1,000 students! For now they need to build classrooms above the sanctuary.

El Buen Pastor School Oasis de Paz in Juan Diaz. This school is located in the very needy neighborhood of Juan Diaz, about 4 or 5 miles from the city center. This school opened in 2008 with 68 students and now has 150 through seventh grade. Facilities have been a big challenge. The school has been remodeling two homes for classrooms. Pastor Alexis has big plans for the school and will need help to build a three-story building over the current structures.

El Buen Pastor School Fountain of Living Water in Tocumen. This school is located in the Tocumen area, beyond the international airport. The school opened in 2000 with 77 students and has grown to more than 500 in the last few years. The church and school purchased the home to the left of the sanctuary and continues work on a new three-story building that will allow the school to offer a full high school program. We congratulate Pastor Carlos and the congregation for impacting their community!

El Buen Pastor School in Chepo. The Forsyths also visited the Chepo School while we were traveling in El Salvador. This has been our featured construction project for the last couple of years. This school opened in 2008 with 56 students and has grown to 161 in its elementary program. Construction is about two-thirds finished, lacking one additional floor and roof.

Randy and Lynne have already begun helping with sponsorship program duties. They are part of the team working on translating the first correspondence project from the LACC kids to their sponsors. It takes a fair amount of time to translate 700-800 letters from Spanish to English so that those sponsoring these children will understand the news and expressions of kindness.

The largest project that the Forsyths will undertake is coordinating the site preparation and construction of the Latin America Resource and Training Center (www.lartc.net). This will depend upon purchasing land in the very near future. Randy is uniquely qualified for this kind of a project and we believe that this is one of the main reasons why they arrived when they did. Please join with us in praying for this important need and project!

We are so grateful to have this beautiful family with us! They will be such a blessing to the schools and their children and youth. Please pray for them during their transition into life and ministry in Panama. Pray for health and provision. Pray that they will strengthen their Spanish skills.